Automators Grow Healthier Tomato Plants Four Ways

Grow healthier and more productive tomato plants

Delivers water at the root zone and suppresses weeds

Protects plants from cutworms and other pests

Set of 3

These deceptively simple tomato plant surrounds will produce healthier, more productive tomato plants with less effort from you. When planting, just slip an automator around the stem of each seedling to suppress weeds and protect against cutworms. Perforated cones direct water to the root zone. Bright red color triggers a natural plant protein that makes tomatoes mature faster and produce more fruit. Easy to use, but provides a big boost to your tomatoes.

I had read that the "red mulch" was actually effective for tomatoes, but we weren't prepared for the amazing difference they would make. My wife spends most of the week out of town and she wanted to grow tomatoes there, so I was looking for a way to help cut down on watering requirements while she's home. I decided to buy a set of these to see if they would help with evaporation and reduce splash back.

She bought 3 seedlings and planted them in two of the Gardeners Supply self watering planters. 3 weeks later she added a 4th plant along with three of these Automaters. A month later and the results are staggering. The three plants with Automaters (including the much older late addition) are a foot more high and covered in blossoms and even some small Tomatoes. The plant without the Automater, despite being three weeks older than one of the larger plants, is barely larger than the day it was planted (yes, the small plant in the photo is three weeks older than the one it's sharing a planter with). Unbelievable!!

Downsides? Why they sell these in packs of three rather than two or four is beyond me, especially when their planters hold two plants. Yes, they are flimsy, but i am sure we all get several seasons out of them. I agree with other reviewers that the whole for the plants is too small and the edges too sharp, but as long as you are careful and/or you trim away some of the inner flange you'll be fine.

I'm using these in the Grow Bags - a round version would be preferred as I needed to cut a slit on one side to get it to fit inside the tomato towers I use. First year using, so hope they help growing.

In the midst of a drought, here in CA we have to be very conscious of wasting water. These tomato waterers allow the water to be concentrated right at the roots of the plant, without waste, AND acts as a mulch at the same time. The tomatoes in my raised beds are doing SO much better this year than ever before!

The product was easy to use. it works as designed. Mine only lasted one season. The plastic became brittle and when removed from the garden, cracked and split, beyond another years use. They are inexpensive enough to warrant buying again, but I've decided to look at a different set of products. They seemed to help the plants produce more. I had more than enough cherry tomatoes for my family of four. However, I won't be purchasing them again. I'd like more than one season out of them.

We are going to buy more for 2015 so we have enough to use for our pepper plants. We did a test a couple of years ago on tomato plants and the difference between the plants with the automaters and the plants without was obvious. The automaters make healthier tomato plants.

I have 15 of these that I have used for the past 2 seasons now. The first year I used these as well as red plastic and the plants that were in the automators grew much larger and I had a much better harvest, I harvested 140 lbs of tomatoes this year vs approximately 80 pounds in 2012! I have used these with both tomatoes and sweet pepper plants and have gotten a larger harvest of both; will only use these going forward. I place them in the garden when I plant as have better luck with getting them set in the ground properly. I also set my plant supports at the same time which helps to keep the automators in place in the garden as the wind blows them around otherwise.

I used this product in our raised beds and found that it did nicely for most of the season but the stalk of the tomatoes got bigger than the hole. When I attempted to remove the container from around the base of the tomato plant, the container split in half. The intense California sun seemed to make these units brittle and many just fell apart at the end of the season. I had six of these and only one survived intact by the end of the season.

Articles

Tomatoes are consistently the most popular vegetable in American gardens. But for most gardeners, just any old tomato won't do.

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